She whimpered.
“Where’s the oracle?” Considine asked her.
I kicked my target in the shoulder, and he twirled like a ballerina—adding another spatter of blood to my uniform. He bounced off the cinderblock wall, then fell.
The woman screamed—loudly. Potentially loud enough for the wizards thumping around the first floor to hear her.
Considine grimaced, then used the hilt of the dagger to smack her in the head, turning her screams into pained groans.
I inspected the pair, confirming that their tattoos had disappeared as a sign they were no longer using magic.
Considine shook his head as he straightened up, tucking my dagger into his belt. “What are the chances the oracle is locked in that closet?”
“Hopefully, pretty good. I don’t know why else they’d be hanging out down here.” I frowned as I studied the cellar window fixed into the wall, giving a thin view of the lawn and the rapidly lightening sky. “If I’ve orientated myself correctly, I’ve noticed these cellar lights on throughout the night over the past few months.”
Considine slunk past me—his hand ghosting across my waist—before he stopped in front of the cheap door. “That’s encouraging.” He tried the door handle. “Locked. I don’t want to kick the door in—the walled in space is so small we run the risk of hitting the oracle in the process. I’ll try to rip the door off the hinges, but unless these walls are even more poorly constructed than they look, I don’t have much hope.”
I crouched down next to the male wizard, and patted down his pockets. “No need. Here.” I found what I was looking for—a key—and tossed it to Considine.
He gave me a winning smile. “You balance me so perfectly. Do you know that, my everything?”
“We should wait to flirt until the oracle is rescued,” I said.
Considine laughed as he fitted the key into the lock. “Talk about proper motivation. Here we go!”
The lock clicked.
“Got it.” Considine glanced back at me. “You should face the oracle first—you look lest terrifying.”
“Are you sure about that?” I skeptically eyed my uniform—I looked pretty gruesome with various blood spatters on me.
Considine nodded. “Ah, good point. I forget other supernaturals won’t find your battle prowess quite as alluring as I do. We’ll do it together, then. If we frighten the oracle into passing out they might be easier to lug back through the House anyway.”
He nudged the door open, revealing a bare, cell-like space.
There was a lamp, an air mattress, and a stack of beaten up paperback books.
The oracle stood in the middle of the room, an unzipped sleeping bag wrapped around her.
Considine and I must have looked positively menacing—both of us wearing dark clothes, Considine with his red eyes, and me looking gory from the wizard blood.
When the oracle saw us, however, her brown eyes were misty. “Blood—and Ruin!” she sobbed, throwing herself at us as if we were old friends.
Considine and I exchanged looks of shock over her head.
Neither of us were used to being greeted…joyfully.
I was slightly taller than the oracle, so I was able to study her blonde hair that was a little greasy and pulled back in a messy bun.
I recognized her face from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it.
“I knew you’d come,” the oracle cried into my shoulder, her entire body trembling in a way that made my heart break.
If she’s been held as long as Vale thinks she’s been…I can’t imagine how she was able to hold on.
“What do you mean?” Considine asked her.
“I saw you more and more, and I knew you wouldn’t let this happen in your city. I knew you’d stop them,” the oracle said.
